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halloween costume plans & free portraits

This post is sponsored by Portrait Innovations because I think this event is really cool and want to share!

So, have you got your kids’ Halloween costumes figured out yet? I usually wait until the last minute just because Halloween is not a big deal to me. Sometimes it pays off (once I found an awesome costume for Meredith at Old Navy the day before for only a few bucks) but as with most things it’s much easier to plan ahead. (Especially when you’re like me and hate to pay real cash money for them.)

Last year’s costumes

Meredith is finally at the age where she has pretty strong opinions about what she wants to dress up as. First, she wanted to be Ariel. She stuck with that for a couple of weeks and I was begrudgingly going to order it. But then she found out her friends at school are going to be Elsa, and suddenly she wanted to be Elsa too. Only…she wanted to be Ariel AND Elsa. At the same time. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make that work.

THEN we visited her friend Jack who has a really cool firefighter costume that they played with, and I totally jumped all over that and I suggested she be a firefighter instead, and to my great pleasure she said yes! Even better, her cousin owns the costume already. We are still figuring out the finished products but here is the general idea:

This year I’m glad to have our costumes figured out early because there is a cool event going on offering free pictures from Portrait Innovations! I’m sure they could give us a better finished product than what I’ve gotten so far. ;) Check out their invitation:

You’re invited to our Halloween Party! No tricks here, just treats. Portrait Innovations invites you to attend our FREE PORTRAIT EVENT, at your nearest studio on Monday, October 26th from 4-6pm. Make sure to come dressed in costume to recieve a free 5×7 Print, 3 freeDigital Images, and of course FREE candy for kids in costume! There will be no sales or appointments during this event.

Of course, there will be candy! What Halloween event would be complete without? And, for a little extra motivation for YOU, submit those darling costume portraits from the event in the Portrait Innovations Boo-tiful Costume Contest for a chance to win a $5,000 cash prize. That’ll make for a fantastic Halloween!

Every Portrait Innovations Studio across the country is hosting the event. To find the studio closest to you, visit: http://www.portraitinnovations.com/Find-a-Studio

Can’t make it on the 26th? Don’t fret! Book a regular appointment, snap a few costume pics and you can still enter the contest.

Cool, right? Planning to go? If you’re a Houston local, there is a studio in Kingwood, Champions Village, Webster, and Sugar Land. What will your littles be dressed up as?

October 20, 2015
week in the life 2015 : wednesday in the album

This album is still slowly but surely coming together! It’s taking me longer than expected (story of my life) because I’ve barely had any spare time these days, but finishing a single day at this point only takes about half an hour.

Here’s the rest of what Wednesday looks like:

Once again with this 3×8 insert I listed out a brief outline of our morning and afternoon, but today I had a photo of dinner to include.

This is what happens when I take photos with the kids in the house. :)

I liked this method of numbering the photos with stickers to match up with the “observations” journal card.

This is probably my favorite spread of the album so far! I just really like the calm colors.

And it ends on a simple story of swimming with friends after dinner.

Such a great project. Love it so much!

Supplies used:
Week in the Life kit with black/white album
Avery Index Tabs

Tools used:
StazOn Inkpad
Crop-A-Dile
Tiny Attacher
Pentel Energel
Date stamp
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Fonts used:
Gill Sans (on photos)
Aleo (on cards)

October 19, 2015
link roundup / 35

1/ I really liked this post about getting back to old school blogging: all your photos and words in one place. I can’t keep up with social media these days and although I find it fun, I can’t do it all!

2/ Modern Parents Messy Kids released their 2015 gift guides! These are my favorite for picking out kids’ gifts whether it’s Christmas or birthdays.

3/ Here is a beautiful, short post about being a foster parent to a baby.

4/ My friend Anna created a Facebook group called Toddler and Beyond for people with kids age 2+ and I’m excited to participate. Feel free to ask to join!

5/ I bought some new makeup this week for the first time in forever! If I could use just one brand, it would be Tarte. They are all-natural and high quality. This week I got: concealer to use around my eyes & on my eyelids, nude lipstick for daily wear (so fun!), brow pencil, and new mascara.

6/ We are deep in tantrum-land with our spirited child, so I think we are going to put a simple behavior plan in place for our trouble spots: morning, dinner, and bedtime. We also learned about kids & money in our Dave Ramsey class this week, so I’m making a list of chores for Meredith to do to earn commission.

I have zero plans this weekend and I’m pretty excited about it. Hoping for some crafting time and maybe to start prepping for a garage sale. How about you?

October 16, 2015
around here
Hello hello! We’ve been staying busy, and here are a few things that we’ve been up to:
- Got a new car (last photo). David’s truck was past the point of saving so we bit the bullet and went to Carmax and came home with a 2014 Mazda5. He is letting me drive it, so I’m trying not to think about the car payment and just enjoying having a new car. I do really love it, even if it is approaching minivan territory.
- Started weekly Financial Peace University classes (Dave Ramsey). Bad timing to take on new debt but since there was no other option we are just focusing on making progress from here on out!
- My work is still inconsistent and unpredictable, so I’ve done some commuting to the medical center and working in other units.
- Dealing with difficult bedtime & sleeping situations with the kids. There is always some sort of struggle and either one or both of us ends up sleeping badly.
- I’ve been having a ton of fun with the new adventure of It Works. Love the products, love the company, love that there is real earning potential to help my family. AND I already got to reconnect with my friend Chelsea, not to mention meet some other awesome girls. Hoping to share more about this in a full post soon!
- No crafting at ALL . Just no time. Maybe this coming weekend!
- Reading way too many books at one time and can’t seem to finish anything.
- The normal shenanigans – jumping on the bed, eating the “smelly” markers, visiting the cousins, tea parties, and more. David attempted to carve a pumpkin with Meredith and you can see the result above. He really tried, and all I could say was, “Bless your heart.” Couldn’t stop smiling. :)
Around here it still feels like summer and I haven’t made any plans for my kids’ Halloween costumes. How about you??
October 13, 2015
week in the life 2015 : tuesday in the album

My Week in the Life album is coming together one day at a time. Here is what Tuesday looked like:

For this day I used the 3×8 insert to include more photos, mostly of what I ate and then of the kids at my in-laws’ house in the evening.

Just simple. I had fun coordinating colors.

The left side of this page was all about taking the kids to daycare and dropping them off.

The right side was about me getting settled in at home for my day off.

I thought the “there is no place like home” card was perfect because I absolutely LOVE being home. It’s my happy place. And this day I got to be there all alone which rarely happens, and was so refreshing to my spirit.

On the “top ten” card I wrote down my favorite things about the day. :)

Another back-to-back photo insert outside the page protectors.

All I added to this page was the cardboard heart. So glad I caught Liam’s face as he ran toward me that day. So much love!

And this last page had a wrap-up of the day plus another one of my favorite pictures, carrying a sleeping Meredith inside from the car.

Supplies used:
Week in the Life kit with black/white album
Avery Index Tabs

Tools used:
StazOn Inkpad
Crop-A-Dile
Tiny Attacher
Pentel Energel
Date stamp
Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Fonts used:
Gill Sans (on photos)
Aleo (on cards)

October 5, 2015